In recent years it has become increasingly popular to treat hair, and particularly women's hair, by coloring or tinting selected strands of hair while separated and isolated from the remaining hair strands. The processes for carrying out such hair treatment are generally termed "highlighting," "tinting," "streaking," "frosting" or the like.
A number of techniques have been developed for such treatment of hair which provide varying degrees of success depending on the skill of the operator and other such factors. The simplest method of bleaching or coloring hair to achieve a contrasting color is hair painting wherein the operator or beautician simply applies a liquid bleach or dye to selected areas of the head of hair to add the desired highlighting as shown in FIGS. 9A-9F. In this method it is generally desired to color or bleach only the uppermost strands of hair. The liquid dye or bleach, however, tends to reach underlying hair, or may even penetrate the entire depth of the hair, yielding an undesirable result.
Many prior art at-home hair highlighting devices are both cumbersome and awkward to use. Most are dependent of the length and thickness of the selected strands of hair to be color treated, and none provides the kind of ease of use, precision, and consistency provided by the present invention.
As a result, highlighting selected strands of hair has traditionally been a process typically done in professional hair salons. It has been a complicated process usually requiring a skilled stylist's assistance. FIG. 9 shows the multiple steps a stylist takes in order to add highlights to selected sections of hair, carefully avoiding coloring the entire head of hair. This arrangement for achieving a contrasting color is also known as hair painting, where an operator applies liquid bleach or dye to selected areas of the head to add the desired highlighting.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,781 (Poole et al.), a stylist parts hair into sections by combing part of the hair over the top of the head, placing a protective sheet over the hair that remains hanging down the back, and pulls strands of hair on to the protective sheet. A brush with a series of spaced tufts is used to brush streaks onto the strands of hair, which lie on the protective sheet. Another protective sheet is placed over those dyed strands, and the process is repeated for every successive layer of highlighting. The dye may potentially reach other hairs, which it is not intended to reach.
A second known procedure for highlighting is placement of a cap, having a number of holes, onto the head, and pulling strands of hair through the holes. The exposed strands are then colored. It may be difficult to ascertain exactly which hairs are being pulled for treatment, and uneven highlighting may result.
A third known arrangement is the wrapping of selected strands in aluminum foil, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,225 (Liggett). A color blade picks up dye and is moved along the hair, in an attempt to bring strands of hair into contact with the dye. The strands of hair are then wrapped in foil. The foil separates those highlighted strands from the rest of the hair and supports the selected strands of hair to which dye or bleach has been applied. More than one pair of hands may be necessary to keep foils in place. Other devices for wrapping treated pieces of hair include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,800,811; 4,196,741; 4,552,159; 4,637,411 and 4,672,983.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,030 describes an arrangement that uses two rollers made of a sponge material that hold a colorant and dispense it as they move along the hair as they are spring-loaded toward each other. It may be difficult to dispense a precise amount of dye or bleach, and if excess liquid or dye is dispensed, it usually cannot be returned to its original bottle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,765 (Wong) describes a modular brush for applying dye or color with a brush body and detachable bristle modules that may be arranged to achieve a pattern of coloring that the user chooses. The device may not allow for precision in application.
Clamp devices, described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,184, are most often comprised of a pair of bars hinged together at one end and having surfaces or attachments at the other end to hold strands of hair and provide a protective shield against the rest of the hair or the scalp, in order to facilitate the application of dye with various other unrelated and structurally different devices.
There is an existing need in the hair highlighting industry for improved devices or apparatus for the at-home application of highlighting solution to the hair which will allow the user control over the particular strands of hair that will be highlighted, the number of strands of hair affected by the solution, the thickness of the highlights, the amount of dye dispensed, as well as an opportunity to save and re-use any potentially wasted coloring agent. There is a need for a device, which not only holds strands of hair but also simultaneously applies dye, bleach, or color, and keeps the coloring agent(s) away from the scalp and from the rest of the hair.